Abstract [en]

In the last two decades, ethical values in the form of reconciling with the past and recognizing victimized groups in history, have become more common themes in history books and in history teaching, like a ‘moral turn’ in the writing of history. History didactics research points out that values issues and moral questions clarify issues and contexts, stimulating thinking over time and activating people’s historical consciousness. Previous research, however, often only states that there is a relationship. In this article, I describe and analyze on empirical grounds, first how values are approached, and have been approached, in Swedish history textbooks, and how history and values relate to each other. Thereafter, I describe how 15-year-old students in Sweden express the relationship between values and history. Central to the analysis is how the historical context can clarify values and at the same time, how values can function as an interface creating meaning and bringing together knowledge between the past, the present and the future.